People will text
by lizzyleefree
Summary: These are little glimpses into John and Sherlock's friendship based around the texts they send each other. They vary between being funny, sad, angry, long, short, and many say the most by what's left unsaid. It's not really romance, but not just friendship either; it's just whatever John and Sherlock are. (Rating just for safety- mild language and possible drug/violence references)
1. The Pen

**Why haven't you given me my pen yet?**

**-SH**

What? I'm on a date; I've been gone half an hour.

-JW

**It's not my fault you weren't here when I asked you to get my pen.**

**-SH**

…Ok, I'm ignoring you now.

-JW

**Which one are you with tonight? The nurse? You could have a less boring conversation with my pen.**

**-SH**

**John. John. John. John.**

**-SH**

WHAT?

-JW

**I need my pen, John.**

**-SH**

It's in your coat pocket, isn't it?

-JW

**No. It's all the way on the other end of the table. I'm far too involved in this case to get it.**

**-SH**

BUT NOT TO TEXT ME A MILLION TIMES?!

-JW

**I've only texted you seven times, including this one. Don't be dramatic, John.**

**-SH**

Oh, I'm the dramatic one, am I? Turning off my phone now, Sherlock.

-JW

**The safety of our client depends on you getting me my pen.**

**-SH**

What? I'm on my way! Why didn't you tell me that in the first place?

-JW

**I was trying to use a coded message, but apparently being around women makes you incapable of understanding something that complex.**

**-SH**

Oh, shut up. It's not a big deal. She was probably about to break up with me, anyway.

-JW

**Of course she was. It's not very chivalrous to text your flatmate through your entire date, you know.**

**-SH**

I don't know why I put up with you.

-JW

**Yes, you do.**

**-SH**


	2. Not John's best birthday

_**A/N: the non-text part of the story got away from me a bit, but I like how it ended up because it goes somewhere that I didn't expect it to. Thanks for reading!**_

You seemed like you actually enjoyed yourself at the pub. Maybe you are human.

-JW

**The only part I found amusing was your performance. You were so good that they may want to book you again.**

**-SH**

You're such a dick.

-JW

**Too soon?**

**-SH**

_[The previous night was John's birthday, and he had convinced Sherlock to go have drinks with him. Early in the night he met a beautiful woman that he seemed to be hitting it off with. Then she recognized Sherlock from the blog and walked out, stating loudly that she "didn't date other people's boyfriends." John drank more than he normally would have out of frustration, and ended up more plastered than he'd been in decades. He wasn't much of a drinker, and his tolerance was particularly low, being such a small man._

_It wasn't a pretty sight. Climbing up on the bar, singing much worse than usual, and saying uncomfortably intimate things were involved.]_

I guess I should thank you.

-JW

**Why?**

**-SH**

For dragging my arse home when I started trying to take my clothes off.

-JW

**I only did what you would have done if I was an idiot.**

**-SH**

Did I do anything really embarrassing that I don't already know about? Be honest.

-JW

_[Sherlock takes a while to decide on his answer. He typed "When we got home…" but didn't continue. He reflected back to John sloped over his shoulders mumbling before Sherlock unceremoniously plopped him onto his bed and popped his shoes off. As he was about to walk away, John clung onto him and said that he didn't care anymore if people thought they were a couple because Sherlock was the greatest man he'd ever known._

_Sherlock blinked several times, speechless for once. Eventually, he nodded curtly, said "Likewise," and shut the door behind him._

_That was not the end of the night, though. Half an hour later Sherlock was trying to concentrate on a case when he heard painful screams coming from John's bedroom. He ran up and threw open the door only to find John alone, on his knees, with his eyes open but not seeing the room around him. It unnerved Sherlock to see his laid back friend in the midst of a war flashback, his muscles tense and rigid, his face red and contorted, his voice hoarse, and mostly incoherent._

_Sherlock had never seen this happen before, and he figured it was a very valid reason that John did not get drunk very often. He considered getting Ms. Hudson to comfort him, but as he crouched down to examine John closer, he leapt back, narrowly missing the swing John took at him (he took note of how quick the soldier's reflexes were, even in an inebriated state). If John's mind was in a threatening memory, then getting Ms. Hudson was certainly out of the question._

_Seeing no alternative- he couldn't concentrate on his work with John like this- he began speaking to John in the calmest voice he could manage, crouching down very slowly while he tried to establish eye contact._

"_John, you're fine. You're at the flat. It's just you and I here. It's Sherlock."_

"_GET AWAY!" John roared._

_Sherlock backed up, on his knees at eye level, but well out of arms reach from John. He continued speaking to him and eventually John's eyes locked onto his. The fear and the rage fell from his face as he looked around the room and collapsed onto the ground into heaving sobs._

_Sherlock approached him slowly, and John fell into him, convulsing with heavy breaths and clutching the back of his friend's robe. Sherlock lifted him up and once again put him on the bed, but this time he didn't leave him. He lay on the bed while John's sobs shook his chest. With resignation, he hummed and rubbed John's back, which seemed to make him quiet down considerably._

_26 minutes later, John was soundly asleep, his knitted jumper rising and falling softly. Sherlock knew he probably would not wake him up again, but still didn't leave him, just in case. Surprisingly, he found himself drifting off to sleep. He'd never slept next to someone. The idea had always sounded undesirable and uncomfortable. However, to help out his only friend, it wasn't terrible._

_Sherlock woke up over five hours later (a generous amount of continuous sleep for him). He deftly slipped out from under John's arm, and straightened the imprint that his body had left on the sheets. John woke up much later to fresh coffee and breakfast._

"_Sherlock?" said John blearily as he stumbled into the living room, clutching his head, "God, did you cook?"_

"_Yes. Consider it a birthday present."_

"_You burnt the sausage, didn't you?"_

"_I never said it was a good birthday present."_

_John sat slowly in a chair and shrugged, "Ugh, I must have really messed up last night for you to be this nice to me and for my headache to be this bad."_

_Sherlock proceeded to tell John about last night's adventure, ending it with them going home. John buried his head in his hands and sighed. In an hour he was cleaned up enough to go into work (late), which was where he texted Sherlock._

_Sherlock stared at the four words he'd typed after John asked if there was anything else he did not remember, before deleting them. "When we got home…" How was he even supposed to convey that whole ordeal through text? He realized he now knew John on a level that was impossible to reach just by pure observation, which was saying a lot for the gifted detective. John didn't need to know that, though. He was so concerned with how "people talked," and he'd had enough embarrassment already.]_

**No.**

**-SH**

Thank God. I'll be home soon and we can go down to the morgue to get the stuff for that pig experiment.

-JW


	3. The Gardens

Sherlock, did you have something to do with Samantha just breaking it off with me?

-JW

_[Sherlock doesn't answer and John texts back an hour later]_

I know you did, so there's no point in ignoring me.

-JW

_[Another hour passes by]_

Sherlock, Sherlock, Sherlock, Sherlock, Sherlock.

-JW

**It was her choice to break up with you.**

**-SH**

Really? Because she told me "Your boyfriend is way too protective over you."

-JW

**She was too demanding. There were two crime scenes you didn't go with me to this week. The work is important, John.**

**-SH**

So you lied to her to get her to break up with me?

-JW

**Of course I didn't lie.**

**-SH**

Then why did she assume I was your boyfriend?

-JW

**Everyone assumes that.**

**-SH**

JUST TELL ME WHAT YOU SAID TO HER.

-JW

**I can tell you won't drop this, but I don't think you should know. You said being so blunt with people was not a kindness.**

**-SH**

You can be blunt with me- I'm used to it.

-JW

**She was a reporter, John. She was dating you to write a story about your blog. She was also sleeping with two other men.**

**-SH**

**I told her that if she didn't break up with you, then I would tell the men about each other, which was quite threatening since one of them is her employer.**

**-SH**

Oh. I would ask how you know that, but I already know you're right.

-JW

**Are you upset?**

**-SH**

No, why would I be upset? I just have terrible luck with women.

-JW

**Good. If that's resolved, meet me at Queen Mary's Gardens in an hour. There's a murder weapon hidden there.**

**-SH**

That was sarcasm. Of course I'm upset.

-JW

**It's her loss.**

**-SH**

Thank you, Sherlock.

-JW

**The Gardens- in one hour. I expect you'll be done moping by then?**

**-SH**

_[Much later that night, Sherlock and John sit in their flat. John is clicking away on his keyboard, but Sherlock notices that he pauses more than he usually does in his writing._

"_I envy you sometimes, Sherlock," John said suddenly, "for being able to just be satisfied with your work. Dating is far too much trouble."_

"_Good work. You've finally realized what I did long before puberty."_

"_I mean, they're supposed to be work," John continued, even though Sherlock sighed grievously to indicate he was bored, "but they're not supposed to feel like they're more work than anything else. I want to be with someone who's worth the work because I can't imagine life without them."_

_Sherlock's eyes darted up to John as he lowered his violin, "I wasn't just satisfied with my work."_

"_What more do you want?"_

"_John, when I first met you, the closest thing I had to a friend was my brother, who I detest, and a skull. What do you think I wanted?"_

"_Hmm, well, ok," John said, shifting in his seat and looking at the floor. He knew Sherlock needed him, but was surprised to actually hear him admit it, "Is it true what Mycroft said? That you never had friends before?"_

"_You know how most people just tell me to 'piss off.' As perceptive as I am, I'm still not completely sure why you don't react the same way."_

"_Really?" John raised his eyebrows._

"_No, not really, you're far too predictable," Sherlock launched into his very-quick-deducting voice, "You tolerate me because we both have a mutual need for the work and because you lack the motivation or knowledge to find any kind of excitement or purpose on your own; that's actually why you joined the military. You also have an alcoholic and sister, so you've been raised with tendency to mediate those who do not function in society normally; and that's why you became a doctor."_

_John laughed and stood up to go upstairs, "Piss off."]_


	4. Sibling Rivalry

_[Set a few weeks after Mycroft meets John.]_

You are to join me for dinner tomorrow night at 8:00. –MH

_[No response.]_

Did you get the flowers I sent, dear brother? In congratulating you on your engagement? –MH

_[No response.]_

I think we need to put things in the past if I'm to be your best man. –MH

**For being so important, you sure find foolish ways to waste your time. –SH**

Oh, a response! I'm so honored! –MH

Do you even know what he did for you, Sherlock? –MH

**He saved my life the first day I met him. It seems beneficial to keep him around. –SH**

Oh, that? I was talking about when he turned down money to spy on you for me. –MH

**Yes, well, you don't need to test my friend to see if he's trustworthy. You know I'm capable of that myself. –SH**

_Friend?_ Oh, well this is getting complicated. –MH

_[No response]_

I have all of his therapy notes. Surely you couldn't have learned everything about him just by glancing at him. I could have them delivered to you. –MH

**I've learned everything I need to. Leave me alone. –SH**

Oh, but I have the updated ones. From the few sessions since he's met you. –MH

_[Several hours pass by]_

Aren't you curious to know what he thinks of you? –MH

**I know what he thinks of me in too much detail. He **_**blogs**_** about me. –SH**

Come off it, brother! I'm sure your ego loves having a blog dedicated to your work. You've always cared about recognition more than you tell people. –MH

I'm sure you weren't happy about the solar system thing, though. That was hysterical. –MH

**Can you not read the words 'leave me alone?' -SH**

Surely you're not so dense as to not realize there must be things he doesn't write about you in the blog. I have some of them here. –MH

**What would it matter if he felt anything else? –SH**

Sherlock, you can't play that 'above sexuality' act with me. I knew you as a teenager and I saw who you looked at the most. –MH

**I'm not "above" anything. People invest far too much in romantic ties; my work would suffer. –SH**

Oh, these notes are a great read, though! I can't believe you're not the least bit curious! –MH

You know how John is wary of "how people talk?" The way he fawns over you in that blog is his version of holding back. People would definitely talk if he said everything that's in these notes. –MH

In fact, maybe I'll get one of my staff to hack into his blog and spice it up a little bit. –MH

**Must you be so criminal? –SH**

You can afford to be when you're at the top. –MH

_[Five hours pass by]_

Ignoring me again? I guess I will update his little blog. –MH

**I'll meet you tomorrow, Mycroft. –SH**

Lovely! Protecting your friend from embarrassment; how uncharacteristically provincial of you, Sherlock. –MH

**And yet this has not been uncharacteristically manipulative of you. –SH**


End file.
